Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
US Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick and Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa shake hands on on September 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) sails in formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise on July 28, 2022. (DVIDS)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei makes a speech during his meeting with senior officials and members of the air force in Tehran, Iran on February 08, 2020. (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tharir holds its Friday prayer at the Parliament Square on March 21, 2019 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The goal of Hizb ut Tharir is the implementation of the Islamic Sharia law. (Ole Jensen/Getty Images)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (R) with Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as the new government is presented after the Iranian Revolution. (Photo by Alain Dejean/Sygma via Getty Images)
Mourners carry the coffins of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and eight others during a funeral procession in Iraq on January 4, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)
Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends ''Vision 2023 Turkeys National Education Ministry'' meeting at Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center on October 23, 2018. ( Murat Kula/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani review the honor guard during official welcoming ceremony at Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Iran on April 7, 2015. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Nigerien soldiers patrol in Bosso, near the Nigerian border, where the army had been battling Boko Haram militants since February. (May 25, 2015 - ISSOUF SANOGO/Getty Images)
Syrian fighters attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province during a graduation of new HTS members at a camp in the countryside of the northern Idlib province August 14, 2018. (Getty Images)